Conveyer slat



April 2, 1940.

o. c. QURRIE CONVEYER SLAT Filed llay 27,1938

Patented Apr. 2, 1940 Otis O. Currie, Jackson,

Mich., assignor to Reynolds Spring Company, Jackson, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application May 27, 1938, Serial No. 210,491

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in conveyer slat construction.

Heretofore it has been the general practice,

. particularly in farm implements, to fabricate the slats of conveyers used in threshers and harvesters from hickory wood. In service such slats warp and are easily broken. However, they are light weight and inexpensive to manufacture, so

notwithstanding these inherent difliculties they have continued" to be extensively used up to the present time.

I have recently been successful in providing a rolled metal slat for conveyers which has been approved and is now being used by manufacturers of farm machinery. It is to be understood that the slat construction herein disclosed is equally useful in other fields employing conveyors.

According to the present invention I provide a light, rigid and inexpensive slat by rolling a continuous metal strip into the desired shape, cutting the continuous strip into lengths and then shaping opposite ends of each slat so as to permit convenient mounting thereof upon chain links.

Thus, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a rolled slat of light gauge metal which is rigid in section and has a longitudinally extending reinforcing rib.

Another object is to provide a rolled metal slat of tubular section having an upright face and an inclined reinforcing face functioning as a truss for said upright face. I

A further object is to provide a tubular slat having flattened ends for attachment to chain links.

Theseand other objects residing in the invention as to combination, arrangement and construction of parts will more fully appear in the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing and the annexed claims.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a chain and scraper conveyer embodying the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the improved Carried by the chains 10 and I 2 are slats l8 functioning as scrapers to convey material along the surface 20. The conveyer illustrated is one used in harvesting and threshing combines for elevating the cut grain and forms no part of the present invention except insofar as it relates to the specific construction of the slats l8. My im-' proved slat may be used in various kinds of conveyers and is not necessarily limited to the socalled scraper type.

As more clearly shown in Figs. 2 to 5, inclusive, the slat I8 is of tubular construction, being substantially triangular in cross-section and hav ingan upper stiffening rib 20. For convenience of description the vertically inclined and horizontal sides of the slat [8 have been identified by reference characters 22, 24 and 26, respectively. In practice, the slat i8 is preferably fabricated I of relatively light gauge sheet metal, twenty gauge material being found satisfactory in most cases. The tubular section from which the slats it are cut is formed in a rolling machine to the cross-section shown in Fig. 3, with the rib 20 formed by overlapping a portion of the side l8 upon the top edge of the side 24. The 3-ply metal making up the rib 20, together with the spot welding of the same at 28, gives a great deal of rigidity to the otherwise inherently rigid triangular section of the slat. In Fig. 2 the ends 39 and 32 of the slat l8 are shown flattened to provide a double ply portion at opposite ends considerably. lower so as toassure that the bottom 26 will have intimate relation with the surface 20 over which it is conveyed by the chains l0 and I2.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the section shown in Fig. 3 will be advanced by the chains, with the vertical wall functioning to push or scrape material being conveyed. Due to the sloping effect of the side 24 and the absence' of any depressions or resistance, the slat I8 is substantially self-cleaning, and there will be no accumulation of the material being conveyed. As the load is adjacent the face 22, the stiffening rib 20 will resist anycdeflection of the side 22, while the inclined side 24 will function as a truss to support the wall 22 in its vertical position against the pressure of the load. The flattening of the ends 30 and 32 in the manner shown likewise tends to stiffen the slat !8. All these factors have been coordinated in my improved slat construction and have made it possible to fabricate a light weight inexpensive slat possessing the rigidity required for satisfactory use.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A conveyer slat of the type described, comprising a sheet metal substantially triangular tubular section having two sides thereof overlapping and forming a longitudinally extending, outwardly projecting stiffening rib, one of said sides having a reversely bent portion in folded relation with the other of said sides, one of the sides of said section being fiat and comprising the working face thereof.

2. A tubular conveyer slat comprising a strip of relatively light gauge sheet metal arranged in the form of a tube, the longitudinal edge portions of said strip being in overlapping relation providing a longitudinally extending, outwardly projecting reinforcing ridge, one of said edge portions having a reversely bent portion in folded relation to the other of said edge portions.

3. A rigid light weight conveyer slat comprising a single sheet of sheet metal arranged in the form of a tube, the longitudinal edge portions being folded upon one another and welded together forming an outwardly projecting longitudinally extending stiffening rib, one of said edge portions having a reversely bent portion in folded relation to the other of said edge portions, the ends of the tubular section being flattened to bring opposed portions of the tube into metal to metal contact with each other.

4. A rigid conveyer slat formed from a continuous piece of light gauge metal by being rolled into a tube, said tube being of substantially triangular cross-section with the longitudinal edge portions of sheet metal being connected to each other to provide an upper longitudinally extending reinforcing rib, the opposite ends of said slat being flattened to dispose the end portions of said tube in metal to metal contact in the plane below said rib and materially above the bottom portion of said tubular section.

5. A conveyer slat of the type described, comprising a rigid tubular member of light gauge sheet metal having vertical and horizontal faces, and an inclined face supporting the vertical face in the direction of the applied load, said inclined face and vertical faces having their respective upper edges folded together into a reinforcing ridge, said ridge constituting an extension of said vertical face.

6. A rigid light weight conveyer slat comprising a single sheet of sheet metal arranged in the form of a tube, the longitudinal edge portions being folded upon one another and connected together, the ends of said tubular section being flattened to bring opposed portions of the tube into metal to metal contact with each other.

OTIS C. CURRIE. 

